Adrenaline spiked through Teo. He leaned forward and pushed her hand away. "Let me help you, JuJu. You don't want any of this in your ear." He could hear his voice sounded high and slightly panicked, but this was the second time his eyes had played tricks on him and made the dirt seem to do something like it was alive. A few specks of dirt were cradled in the well of her ear. A fleeting urge to push the remaining bits of dirt inside flashed through his mind. He grit his teeth and scraped the specks out with his nail.

JuJu stiffened at his touch, then began digging into her ear with a finger. Eyes wide and fearful, she asked, "Why Teo? What's wrong with dirt in my ear? Is there something in the dirt?" Her panicked voice had everyone rushing over to form a loose circle around them. Karan and Jamal held JuJu still and examined her ears, then began quickly brushing the dirt out of her hair.

The Captain gave him a piercing look, and he knew she'd lay into him once they were alone.

He laughed as nonchalantly as possible and smiled reassuringly. "JuJu, you don't want anything foreign in your ears. That's just good hygiene. I took a reading of the soil just before we got off the ship, right at the end of the ramp. Remember? Nothing in it, except good stuff for plants."

JuJu heaved a sigh of relief, but her smile was wobbly. "Yeah, I didn't think of that. The dirt is just so soft. I never imagined it'd feel that way. I almost want to eat it." She gave a nervous laugh and kicked at the dirt, sending a wave flying through the breeze to cover Polly and Mo.

Teo laughed for real and mock-punched her on the shoulder. "Definitely don't do that. You'd end up puking it all over."

The Captain clapped her hands for attention. "Alright everyone, let's get the surveying done. When this section is complete, we'll move the ship to another quadrant."

"How long do you think it'll take us to finish the whole thing?" Jamal was digging into his ear with his little finger.

Pursing her lips, the Captain gazed off at the horizon as she calculated. "With the size of the planet, it'll take us about a week. Maybe a bit more, depending on how thorough we are."

"Well, I vote for a thorough job that takes us about a month!" Karan boomed and bumped fists with Mo. When he caught sight of the Captain's thin lips, he harumphed and arranged his face into a more somber expression. "We can do a more extensive scan that way, of course."

"We'll see," the Captain replied noncommittally. "You all know your duties. Report in regularly. Teo, let's go get the rover."

Teo's stomach plummeted at the thought of being alone with her.  It wasn't often the Captain needed to reprimand one of them, but especially him. With dread dragging at his heels, he followed the Captain back up into the ship.

The Captain walked swiftly down the passages, her short mahogany hair waving with her speed. She was average height, but managed to set a pace that even his long legs had to be quick to keep up with.

Her worn boots barely made a noise on the metal floor. Every time she passed a porthole, the light of the twin suns painted her skin a flattering pale orangey-red. An urge to see her entire body in that shade rose up so strongly he had to dig his nails into his palms to stop from grabbing her and taking her back outside to the dirt.

He glanced out the next porthole at the rest of the crew gathered together in a loving huddle. With humans spread so far across the galaxy, most people had the fluid love of the crew, willing to include any newcomer they met and not begrudging any who wanted to leave. It was the easiest way to widen the gene pool since the Law prevented any human congregations of more than ten people at a time. Whenever they met another ship, they'd each send a shuttle of five people across so there were never more than ten people in close proximity, even when the shuttles passed each other.

The drone bots the Governance had all over the galaxy were almost impossible to spot. They were supposed to monitor all galaxy citizens, but Teo had secretly long suspected they were programmed to specifically follow humans and other 'troublemakers'.

If Polly, JuJu and the Captain all had babies, the crew would count ten. They'd all be able to stay together and raise the children - until another baby came along at least. Since JuJu and Polly had been trying to get pregnant for years upon years with no success, the chances of that happening were pretty slim.

He turned back at the Captain striding purposefully ahead of him to the hangar bay.

The monogamous relationship he had had with her was rare. It was at her request though, and while he didn't understand it, he would do anything she asked. Occasionally he missed the companionship of the group relationship, and sometimes the variety of partners, but knowing the baby growing in the Captain's belly was his filled him with a sense of pride that trumped all of that. The Captain had warned him to not express that to the others. They didn't want to disturb the equilibrium of the crew, or any other crews they came across for that matter.

She stabbed at the hangar bay button to open the door. Her face was stony when she turned to him, feet planted shoulder-width apart and hands on hips. Once the door closed again with a gentle sigh, she yanked off her mask and said, "Explain yourself, Science Officer Osborn."

Teo took off his own mask more slowly and held it in both hands before him. "Captain, I thought I saw... it's going to sound crazy." She crossed her arms over her chest and pressed her lips into an even thinner line. "When the hatch first opened, and the dust blew in, for a second I thought I saw it reaching for Polly. Just outside there, I swear I saw the dirt evading JuJu's finger because it was trying to go into her ear. I freaked out for a second, and I'm sorry. With all the excitement, we... I mean, 'I', I just caved to the moment."

She stood staring at him hard for several long seconds. He shifted uncomfortably, but held her gaze. "It did surprise me, Teo." The storm passed with the use of his first name. The Captain softened her stance and placed her hands protectively on her belly.

Teo stepped forward and placed a hand over hers. "How do you think Ju will take the news?"

The Captain shrugged. "Not well. She's resisting a scan to find out if she's barren. Having it confirmed will crush her. Jamal suggested I order her to get it done, but I think JuJu will just leave if I do that."

"It took us two years to get pregnant." He rubbed her shoulders. "We could always go to that Mjek near Diellor for the surrogacy procedure."

"Teo!" The Captain warned and looked around reflexively. "You know that's illegal. Besides, even though Polly or I would give her an egg in a heartbeat, JuJu wants it to be her own. I don't want to tell her surrogacy is an option until we know for sure it's the last one. We'll keep connecting with as many other ships as possible to widen her pool of chances. Polly too."

"Okay." He hooked a finger under her chin to bring her gaze to his. "We'll be ok. We're all together, and that's what matters."

She nodded, and her lips turned up slightly. "Let's get the rover."

Minutes later, the warm wind carried away the clouds of dust the rover wheels kicked up as they sped towards the distant hills.

Teo twisted in his seat to search for the rest of the crew. Jamal, Karan and Polly were off to the right, with JuJu and Mo to the left. As he watched, JuJu tackled Mo to the ground. He chuckled and said, "Looks like JuJu is going to beat us to first dibs at sex in the soil."

The Captain frowned. "I'll be having words with her when we get back. That can wait."

Teo turned back to the front, surveying the endless expanse of brown dirt. "They'll be quick. Besides, you can't say it's not tempting. We'll be alone - completely alone - for the first time since we met." He waggled his eyebrows up and down at her and reached over to squeeze her knee. "Maybe when we reach the hills, you and I can have a romp of our own?" She rewarded him with a twitch of her lip.

Companionable silence descended as they drove. Teo held a hand out the open window, relishing the feeling of his glove pressing into his hand in the rushing wind.

His chest expanded with the freedom of knowing the drone bots couldn't read them down here. As far as they could tell, nothing had entered the atmosphere with them, or anywhere else on the planet, if their drones scattered across the surface were reporting correctly.

Calmness slowly settled over the Captain's face, erasing the tiny signs of stress that were constantly there. She began, "Teo, do you-"

Polly shrieking cut off her sentence. "Captain! It's JuJu! What are you doing, JuJu? Karan! Karan! JuJu, noooo!" Polly's voice became a snuffling sound, still yelling unrecognizable words through whatever JuJu was doing to silence her.